


to catch smoke

by triptocaine



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Corvo becomes a rancher because he can't deal with greif, Emily deals with grief in her own way, M/M, Murder...? Mystery?, Mystery, Outsider... dies?, Sad Dad Corvo, Slow Burn, Symbolism, The Outsider can't make Stars, There are 3 OC's and one of them barely has a role, dealing with grief, he's just there for the egg sandwhich
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 11:24:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11577102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triptocaine/pseuds/triptocaine
Summary: After the death of Jessamine, Corvo and Emily move down to a ranch far from home to deal with the loss. There, Corvo gets sucked into a mystery with an ancient being and isn't sure if this is what he signed up for.





	1. Black Fog

**Author's Note:**

> This is made for the Dishonored Big Bang and I want to thank Luci for putting this all together and somehow NOT losing her mind in the midst of it (Luci confirmed for Lucy Lawless). I also want to send a thanks to my two artists, Drea and Addermire who came in 14 days before the 100% word count because I had lost my other artists. They managed to push out something amazing in the small time frame they had and I can't thank them enooouuuggghhh.  
> EDIT: I forgot to post these here!  
> Addermire's art for this fic: http://addermire-institute.tumblr.com/post/163292800346/yes-hello-its-me-again-and-i-proudly-present-my  
> Drea's art for this fic: http://missdreawrites.tumblr.com/post/163292373228/to-catch-smoke-dishonored-big-bang-2017-author

                Every time that Corvo looked into the rearview mirror to take a peek back at Emily, he could tell she was still upset about the move. She grew up in a more expensive neighborhood; large homes, people to wait upon her, everything that a young girl could ever dream for. Except her mother; the reason for the move.

While the fortune was left to Emily, she technically couldn’t get to it until she was twenty-five. And while Corvo should have been the holder for the account, they couldn’t find the forms that gave proof of Emily being his legitimate daughter. So the bank is to hold onto it until Emily is older. And they had to move because Corvo could only afford to keep them in the house for a few months.

                And his best remedy to trying to heal, was to leave. Across several states and stuck in a car for over two days.

                Emily shifted in the back to lay across the seats. She always liked the back seat more than the front. _More room to relax_ , she’d say as she normally tried to take up as much room across the seats, with or without her mother sitting by the window.

                _“Emily, behave my dear,” Jessamine would smile and laugh as her young daughter tapped a finger against her nose. “You’ll have to sit up straight and not take up the whole seat when the other board members are here.”_

 _“Yeah, but that’s only when they get here!” Emily grinned and tapped her mother’s nose again to get another laugh. Corvo could only watch the family bonding time from the rearview mirror. Every once in a while Jessamine would look forward and catch his gaze_.

                Just as Emily was. He looked back to the barren road ahead. The amount of flat lands that they drove through was bordering the idea that they might have been stuck in a constant loop of the same patches of grass over and over again. And Corvo wasn’t sure how many much of the same land they would see before they hit a fairly small town. One gas station, a food mart, a church, a few houses, and all the other basic necessities.

                “Gotta top off the gas Em,” Corvo started, managing to pull her face away from her white cased phone. “Need anything?”

                “If you wanna give me a few bucks to get something to drink that’d be great.” He can hear the bitterness behind her words.

                “Yeah, sure.”

                Pulling out his wallet, he gave Emily a five dollar bill before pulling up to the pump and watching her jump out and rush into the convenience store. Corvo watched carefully from the gas pump into the store. This was new territory that he was sure was dipped in southern charm and hospitality, but it still made him a little queasy. He could see the bright orange drink that Emily grabbed.

                _Should have said to get water or nothing,_ he thought. He looked away when she came out, shoving the leftover change haphazardly into her pocket as she jumped into the back seat again. Finishing up with the pump, Corvo made his way around and back behind the wheel.

                When he closed the door he could smell the fake orange sugar wafting through the air. His nose scrunched up. How could she drink that sugary crap? No matter, it might help her crash more when they got to the house.

                “So… what are the guys’ names again?” Emily finally broke the strained silence.

                “They’re friends of your Mom’s,” Corvo started. “…were. You were young when you met them. It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t remember them.”

                “Okay, but that didn’t answer my question,” Emily quipped.

                “Oh,” Corvo cleared his throat. “Gregor, Martoni, their kids. They share a ranch house that’s currently got an extra unused barn. Remember? I showed you the pictures. They might not have it set up completely for us, so we’ll most likely be sleeping in the basement of the ranch house for the night and then we can finish it tomorrow.”

                “Seems pretty forward for a southern place like this to have a gay couple with adopted kids,” Emily seemed impressed.

                “They’re not actually,” Corvo debunked it quickly. “One kid is Gregor’s and Katrina’s. The other Martoni got on his doorstep.”

                “Ah, so no gay dad’s?” She seemed bummed.

                “Ah, no. Unlikely you’ll find open gay dads.”

                “Well there’s you being bi and all,” Emily quickly put out. “Don’t act like Mom never told me.”

                Corvo felt himself get flustered, not really having thought about his sexuality for some time.

                “Yeah… keep that on the down low for now, okay? For now I’m straighter than I’ve ever been.”

                “Ugh. If we stayed up north we wouldn’t have to deal with this.” And there she went, back on her phone to end the conversation. Corvo didn’t mind; he knew she was still upset about everything and he knew the phone would be used as both an anchor and a security blanket. Let her talk to her friends back home. …er… back up north rather.

                The sun had fallen and by the time Corvo finally saw the lights of the ranch house down the road, it was maybe one o’clock in the morning. It took a bit to try and find the driveway, turning and driving down it. It was a dirt driveway and neither of them really liked it. Parking the car, he stepped out as he saw Katrina come out first to greet him.

                “Corvo, oh it’s been so long!” she grinned as she took the bulky man in her arms into a tight hug. Getting a few pats on the back from Corvo she pulled away.

                “You look good,” Corvo started as he started to open the trunk and pull out a couple bags. “Seems Gregor and Harry are treating you better now.”

                “More than ever,” she returned as she grabbed one of the bags as well. “Except they’re both inside asleep. Toni’s out in the barn right now, tryin’ to see if he can finish up a few things before heading back here.”

                “All fine. Emily and I really only need the overnight bags we prepared for now,” Corvo pointed towards the young girl. “Em, this is Katrina.”

                “Nice to meet you ma’am,” Emily put on her best behavior. “I think it’s really nice of you to let me and Corvo stay here for a while before we can move back up states.”

                “No need for formalities Emily,” Katrina smiled as she led them to the front door. “We’ve already met. And you’ve become much more mature since I last saw you. But then again you were much younger and smaller.”

                The introductions didn’t last long as Katrina led them down to the basement. There was a large pull-out bed set up for them with the blankets already lined it and the pillows already fluffed. Emily dropped her bag near the base of the couch from where the bed came from and flopped herself across the pillows, cuddling up to one. Corvo placed his own bags down and followed Katrina back up to give Emily some time to get ready for bed.

                Once they were out of ear shot Katrina sat them both down and poured some, what Corvo could only assume was, sweet tea. And the second it hit his lips, his assumption was proven correct. It felt like it stuck to his tongue and he wasn’t sure how they drank this every day.

                “I could ask how you’re dealing with everything, but I think I know the answer since you’re all the way down here,” she started. “You would have stayed up north if you were okay.”

                “I don’t think I could have stayed up north if I was okay,” Corvo replied, running the flat of his finger over the rim of the glass. “And I could be saying that because of how I feel about everything now. It’s just for a few months. Until I can get back on track, find a new job to help provide for Emily and myself to last until she can take back Jess’s company.”

                “You know it might be longer than a few months,” Katrina sighed.

                “I can hope that it won’t be.”

_The bullet collided with her chest with a sharp sound._

                The next few minutes were silent as Corvo finished his drink. He didn’t really want to talk about Jessamine. At least not yet. He was tired. He had slept on motel beds for the past few nights, he’s had to listen to the same songs from Emily’s phone over and over again, and he’s had to look at nothing but flat plains for the past four hundred miles.

Shaking his head he thanked Katrina for the drink, stood up and placed the cup in the sink. Heading to the basement, he found Emily in her pajamas and leaning on her stomach with her phone plugged in as she looked at… whatever she normally looked at.

                Corvo just took off his boots and belt and landed face first into the squeaky bed. It caused it to jostle and elicit a small laugh from Emily who had bounced from the force. Turning her screen off, she placed her phone down on the floor and turned to Corvo, still hugging the pillow tight.

                “Looks like you got swallowed by a whale,” she was trying to lighten the mood, he could tell. He wasn’t sure _how_ Emily was dealing with the death so well. Unless she was hiding it underneath her layer of cuteness. Corvo was dealing with his grief by wanting to stay silent, run away from any issue that may come of it and never look back so he’d never have to deal with it. And Emily? Unless she was an extremely good actor, which she very well could be, she didn’t seem phased. But that just meant Corvo couldn’t see the pain on her face. It was most likely the latter.

                “It _feels_ like I got swallowed by a whale,” he retorted. “Looks like you need to go to bed.”

                “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Dad.” She stole the third and unused pillow and fluffed it up under herself and kept the other to cuddle with.

                Corvo wasn’t fully paying attention to how long it took him to fall asleep, just that it happened.

                _“You are the heart of a living thing.”_

                Corvo woke suddenly, noticing the peek of sunshine through the small window in the room. He held his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Emily was still conked out, cuddled up in her pillow fort, having stolen Corvo’s during the night. He leaned over and kissed her temple before getting out of bed and quickly changing his shirt to a different faded tee. He could hear footsteps and people moving around upstairs. No doubt getting ready for the daily chores.

                Putting his belt and boots back on, he made his way up the stairs and was instantly greeted by a strong smack on his back from Martoni. Corvo was sure that wouldn’t leave a mark, but he would feel it sting for a few minutes.

                “Look what the cat dragged in!” Martoni’s voice was loud and warm, like a hug from an Italian grandfather. He was no more than a few years older than Corvo himself, but looked like he could have been much older.

                “And where is the small Miss Emily? I haven’t seen her since she was a baby!” Martoni beamed again as Corvo straightened himself to shake the man’s hand.

                “Still asleep,” Corvo started. “She most likely won’t be helping much today. The trip has definitely made her far too tired to do any of that. I’m sure she’ll sleep past noon as she normally does.” That got a laugh from Martoni. One of those laughs that should be contagious, but Corvo couldn’t find it in himself to get much past a smile and a warm look.

                Before Corvo had to explain any more, Katrina came to the rescue, pushing a tin foiled wrapped something or other into Martoni’s hands and started to push him out of the house. She placed two in Corvo’s hands.

                “Go see Greg,” she smiled. “Give him one of those. He’s out fixin’ up the last of the barn for you and Emily. When she wakes up I’ll take care of her.”

                “Thanks Katrina,” Corvo gave a hurt smile before heading out the door. The barn was barely a tenth of a mile from the ranch, though Corvo would never be able to answer why. He could only assume the barn was added on later, but needed to be off the small hill that the ranch was on. Either way, the beating sun didn’t help with having to think about what it would be like if he needed something from the others.

                As he approached, he could feel something unsettle in his stomach. Like a storm cloud would start brewing over them, or a fire would begin to blaze.

                _The shout that the sniper was there came too late._

But there were only clouds off in the distance that posed no threats, and the fires that started were easily controlled so they wouldn’t reach the ranch or barn. Corvo put it aside as nerves and anxiety.

Walking through a side door, he was shocked to find that it was fairly cool, spotting a window air conditioning unit set up in a window. There were several walls set up around the main floor, sectioning off certain areas from each other and blocking out the bathroom that was functioning it seemed. Corvo made his way to the kitchen where he ran his hand across the cool laminate counter and opening one of the recycled cabinets. He could hear Gregor rapping away at something on the top floor, no doubt the bedrooms. Honestly, Corvo would sleep on a couch if he had to, he didn’t mind. Heading up the stairs, he peeked into the three different doors; a bathroom, a small room, and another room that Gregor was in, mounting the window.

“Hey,” Corvo started, getting the old friend’s attention. “Katrina made you tin-foil wrapped whatever.”

Gregor, a man of simple pleasures and warms laughs, gave a grin as he took one of the wrapped foods. Inside was a warm egg sandwich.

“You know how to put a window in?” Greg pointed.

“I can pretend that I do,” Corvo joked. He only helped to bang one of the corners into the opening and spray some expanding foam into the cracks so no air would leak through. When that was done, the two sat up against the wall where the window was and ate their breakfast. Not many words were spoken, which was pleasant about Greg; he knew when silence mattered. Corvo was grateful for that when they did talk it wasn’t about the move or how he and Emily were enduring it, or about Jessamine. Even though a few months had passed and Corvo had loved talking about her, it was something now that he couldn’t bring himself to do.

When they finished the food, Corvo helped put in the last few nails and the last few boards and admired their work. He knew Emily would want the larger room, which he didn’t mind. Again, he was happy to sleep on a couch. They headed back to the ranch with their tools. Inside, Katrina was filing some paperwork about business with one of the butchers and Emily was right beside her helping out with business plans. What a wonder that little Emily was.

It didn’t take long for Corvo and Emily to move all their stuff over to the barn, setting up a few cots and sleeping bags for the two of them.

“The furniture should be over here either later today or tomorrow,” Katrina started. “It’s coming out of our storage, stuff from before Greg and I were married. Small, but should suffice.”

Emily was skirting around them as she placed up some of her belongings onto the wall and kept her clothes in a somewhat sorted pile in the corner.

“You’ve been nothing but generous to us Katrina,” Corvo said. “I can repay you by working with Greg and Toni.”

“And I’ll take Emily to help me with business. She’s got quite a brain in that head of hers. Though I’ll have to warn you, you’ll have to ride a horse to work with those two lugheads out in the fields.”

“It’s… been a long time since I’ve ridden a horse,” Corvo admitted. “But I’m sure it’ll be easy to pick back up.”

It wasn’t.

For whatever reason, or just on some sick joke, Greg and Toni had to give Corvo one of the most difficult horses to ride. He was sure this was just meant to be some form of hazing tactic to see if Corvo would actually stick through it. He wasn’t going to let some angry mare keep kicking him off and trotting around him cheerfully like some kind of cruel finishing move.

Getting back to his feet from being knocked over three times now (or was it four?), Corvo grabbed the reigns of the horse and climbed back onto her back. This time he forced a bit more with his thighs and gripped a bit harder with his hands on the reigns and finally got her to accept him on his back. He let out a sigh of relief and gently rubbed the side of her neck only to get the back of her head slammed against his nose.

He had enough for the day.

The furniture came that night as the sun set. It was some old rickety stuff, but the mattresses were still soft and the chairs were still comfortable. That night they all stayed in the barn until Emily decided she wanted to sleep. Corvo watched as they all walked out, moving a bit faster than normal to get to the ranch.

Corvo dreamt of holding a speaking heart in his hands while it pulsed and vibrated until it exploded.

He woke before the sun rose.

He was able to catch Toni starting to set up the horses to go move the cattle to a different field to graze. Corvo opted in. He was given that angry mare again, Seashell. Ha. How unfitting. At least this time he was able to get her on his side so they could follow Toni out into the fields.

They weren’t moving the cattle far, and the sun had only just started to peek up and over the flat land. Corvo only followed and watched how Toni moved around before he got in himself, still fighting with his horse at times and getting her to work with him at other times.

When the cattle had been moved successfully, the sun was already warming up the grass, causing a low coating of fog across the ground. Picture perfect if Corvo’s ever seen anything like it. Corvo swore he saw the fog move and shift to black far off in the distance. He tried to squint to see it more, focusing on how it moved, like a wind that only wanted to grow tall. It kept getting dark, darker.

“Let’s head back,” Toni broke Corvo’s concentration. He looked away for a second and the black fog was gone. “Katrina’s probably made something for us. We can head back out here later to do hay bales.”

“Yeah, sure,” Corvo responded as his eyes tried to find the spot where he was so focused before. He couldn’t find it. Did it exist?

Following Toni back to the ranch, he helped bring the horses back to the stables in the backyard and then back into the ranch house. He didn’t want to bring up the black fog he saw, as he was sure it was just something from being so tired and not having had eaten yet. But something tugged at the back of his mind like he was supposed to pay attention to it.

His mind was taken off course when Katrina placed down the communal breakfast and a cup of coffee in front of Corvo’s plate. He’d worry about the smoke later. The taste of not dollar store coffee was welcomed as he almost burnt the back of his throat trying to drink it all. When he placed the mug down, he could see Toni looking at him from across the table. His expression was distraught, as if suddenly he didn’t trust Corvo. He locked eyes and shook his head, mouthing the words ‘Don’t’. Corvo took another sip of his coffee, watching the steam rise.

Toni saw the black fog too.

“What was it?” Corvo finally asked the question. It wasn’t until they were alone out on the horses while Greg used the truck to roll out the large bales of hay for the cattle.

“What was what?” Toni responded. Corvo knew damn well what kind of game Toni was playing.

“You saw it this morning with me. The black fog. Is that a normal thing around here?”

“Just a trick of the light I suppose. You’re not used to fog like this, that early in the morning.”

“I suppose you’re right. But it seemed…”

“It was a trick of the light,” Toni finalized.

Corvo didn’t like that answer. But it seemed to be the only one that Toni was giving, even with his cryptic mannerism in the morning. Corvo wouldn’t take the answer as official though. Nothing moved like that, nothing formed like that. And even if it was a trick of the light, then it should have stayed there after Corvo turned away. The whole pillar of fog had flattened back out, no hole, no nothing. Corvo didn’t like it.

“Yeah, a trick of the light,” Corvo repeated skeptically. He was sure to find out about it at some point.

A week passed and the black fog never showed itself to Corvo again.

But the dreams kept happening.

One night, at the end of their first week, Emily and Corvo sat beside each other on the couch as she tried to show him a video that made her laugh earlier. The video wasn’t very long and consisted of a man’s lips overlapping cats. Corvo would be lying if he said it didn’t get a chuckle out of him at least twice.

“How’s Katrina with the business plans?” Corvo finally asked, hoping to get a conversation out other than silly cat videos.

“It’s… fine I suppose,” Emily didn’t seem to want to talk. Or something was bothering her. Corvo stared at her shoulder, remembering the heart exploding in his hands. _The bullet collided with her chest._

“Em, listen—“

“Dad,” she cut him off. “I really don’t need you to lecture me on us moving all the way down here and how ‘it’s for the better’. I know about Mum’s inheritance, I know that the bank is holding onto it. Callista’s been able to get a hold of something and has been going through some legal things to get her or your name as its placeholder. I _know._ You’re not the only one that’s been dealing with this okay?”

“…right,” Corvo looked down. “Yeah. But… how are you holding up.”

“Like shit.”

“Language.”

“Sorry. Like crap,” she gave a sigh. “Dad I really tried to be open about the move. I really tried to be accepting and strong about losing Mom. Like I have to put on the façade that I’ll be okay and that I’ll take her place when I’m older.”

“Em, you don’t have to,” Corvo started. “Put up a façade I mean.”

“But you are.”

That struck Corvo in the stomach. Had he? He hadn’t thought about it at all. He thought leaving the north would define that he wasn’t as good as he could be. He blamed himself for Jessamine’s death, even though it wasn’t his fault but he felt like he could have been faster, more aware. But in the end he too was hiding behind something so no one would see him break. Emily’s expression changed as she realized what might have been going through Corvo’s head.

“Dad,” her voice cracked. Corvo looked up to see the tears in her eyes. In an instant her arms were wrapped around his neck as she held him close. His own arms going around her sides and squeezing her closely.

Emily was the first to start crying, sniffling and sobbing into Corvo’s shoulder. He knew she was trying to form words as she spoke through her tears, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying. Inaudible and incoherent sobs filled the room for a while. It wasn’t until Emily’s tears started to subside that Corvo spoke again, having to clear his throat and wipe his own tears away.

“You wanna watch that cat video again?”

He received a nod. The two of them got more comfortable and ended up on a video binge. Emily kept showing him videos about vloggers and snakes, a kid who kept blowing things up in his backyard, and some guy who only destroyed phones. Corvo’s only thought was ‘ _What a waste_.’

At some point at one in the morning (had that much time passed?) Emily finally found herself upstairs in her room asleep in her fort of pillows. Corvo stayed down on the couch. He wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t sleep in a bed quite yet. He started to close his eyes to sleep.

_The heart of a living thing._

Corvo bolted upright. That was in the house. Throwing the blankets off of him, he started searching through the main floor, then rushed upstairs to the bedrooms. Nothing. With his heart racing, Corvo went back downstairs and outside. Pitch black. He could feel his mouth go dry as he felt the temperature drop.

The black fog.

Racing back inside, Corvo grabbed a flashlight and his boots. He ran over to the stables and got out Seashell, her not very happy that she was being pulled out this late at night. Getting up to a gallop with her, he headed out to the field where he first saw the black fog. He moved his flashlight around as he tried to find it again, no fog on the ground tonight it seemed though.

He grunted out, moving Seashell to a different spot to search, always looking back over to the barn for anything there. Nothing. What was he doing? Rushing out at the dead of night in a place he was unfamiliar with to follow a disembodied voice that kept talking about a heart.

The flashlight’s beam continued to move frantically around as Corvo searched for whatever was trying to talk to him. Trying to reach out to him. His mind threw an image of Jessamine his way, and he tried to shake it. He gripped his head as Seashell stopped in her tracks.

“Not now you godawful horse,” he grumbled as he tried to move her forward. When she didn’t budge, he gave a groan and got off of her, his boots hitting a muddy puddle (or at least he hoped it was one). At least she would stay as she didn’t seem to want to move.

He took a few steps away from her and the air got thicker, like it was trying to drown him. It tasted of salt. He looked down at his boots when they started to slosh around in something. He didn’t remember it raining. Staring at his feet, the water looked black, even when he flashed the light at it. And then it moved into his vision. The black fog. He moved the light up, following his gaze with it.

There in front of him, the black fog accumulated into a dense smoke that the light couldn’t see through. It tightened more and more, becoming heavier, almost a solid object. Corvo watched in amazement, fear, and bewilderment taking over him all at once. His mouth opened slightly, trying to breathe through the thick air, some of the black fog reaching his lips. It tasted of the ocean.

Then, all at once, the air became cold and no longer heavy. The black fog tightened continuously until it formed the shape… There stood a young man, youthful in appearance, but ancient in presence. His body fell gracefully as his toes tapped the water causing a small ripple. Corvo kept the light still as he gazed over his features. Slender jaw, straight nose… the blackest of eyes to the point where Corvo was sure he saw glittering stars in them. He stood still, trying not to disturb him. He watched as the man lifted his hands, that same black fog forming around him, wisping around his cheeks like kisses from an ethereal plane.

He looked sad.

His hands rose as small flecks of, what looked like dust, moved from the fog and towards the sky. Corvo dared to shift his eyes away and look up, watching the flecks fly up and join the stars. He didn’t hear the small ‘wow’ that came from his mouth.

But the being did.

The air got incredible thick to the point where Corvo felt he might start choking. He looked back at the being. He stood still, but his face had already snapped towards Corvo, his expression grim. Those black eyes with tiny stars were the next thing that Corvo saw, so extremely close. So extremely amazing. Corvo didn’t look away, still keeping his gaze locked with the pure black eyes. He could see the veins around the being’s eyelids, feathering out to disappear behind pale skin.

“Corvo!” came a scream from up top of the hill. Toni. The being turned his face towards the scream, only to turn back when Corvo moved. He could hear his heartbeat in his own ears, keeping still as the being stayed focused on him. The being raised his hands, cupping Corvo’s cheeks. He could hear Toni shouting something, but it sounded far away and muffled. Underwater.

He tried to breathe in and water filled his lungs, the being still in front of him. He felt a searing pain on his left hand that he tried to look at but couldn’t. The being opened his mouth.

“ _Take my mark, Corvo_.”

The same voice that he had heard from his dreams, the same one that hovered by his ear in the barn. The hands on his cheeks got tighter, nails digging into just beyond his hairline. The blackness of the being’s eyes enveloped him, sending him beyond their world, floating, silent, cool lilacs and deep purples and the blackest of black. The being stayed in front of him, holding his cheeks before letting go.

Corvo wasn’t sure how weightless he was before he started to fall, watching the being disappear above him, fading away into nothing but smoke.

His back hit the floor and Corvo was up, coughing, gasping for air. He ran to the bathroom and watched as his bile filled the toilet. When he finished gagging and hacking, he cleaned himself up, and stared into the mirror. His eyes were dark and sunken in, like he hadn’t slept in weeks. His lips looked like they wanted to be dry and cracked, but the water he kept splashing on his face stopped them from being so. He was covered in a cold sweat from whatever nightmare he just had. At least, he tried to tell himself it was a nightmare.

“Toni!” came the first name to his head as he rushed out the door. It was still dark out, but just barely. The sun was starting to gander out over the edge of the horizon. Corvo ran to the fields where he saw him with Seashell.

“Toni!” Corvo called out. He ran as quickly as he could. When he finally reached his friend, he was somewhat out of breath, the man looking like he’d just seen a ghost. Hands instantly grabbed Corvo’s shoulders and shook him.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Toni’s voice had gone from loving grandfather to someone who could kill. “What the _hell_ were you thinking?!”

Corvo realized with the seriousness in his voice, Toni saw it too. It wasn’t a nightmare.

“Toni, the voice—whatever that was, it was in the barn, I needed to find it—the black fog from when I first got here—“

Corvo got cut off by Toni taking a step back and letting go of his shoulders. His eyes were wide as he stared down at Corvo’s left hand. His mouth stayed wide open, fearing what he saw. When Corvo lifted his hand, his face contorted similarly into shock. A flare of gold, the black fog around it, having sunk into his skin.

“No,” Toni tried to deny it. “How…?”

Corvo was speechless.

Toni wasn’t.

“The Outsider’s mark.”


	2. Three Books, One Rune

                At this point all the kids had been put to their rooms for schoolwork or play to get them out of the barn. Emily had stated she would help Henry and Tyler with their homework, being the ‘intelligent and diligent young woman’ that she claimed herself to be. Corvo and the other three adults sat at the small table in the kitchenette.

                It was the night after Corvo had been given an up-close and personal introduction to the ethereal being. No one would tell him anything and just looked away like they were sorry for him, or they were ashamed to know him anymore. He had finally put his foot down and demanded they told him what was happening, and here they were.

                “The Outsider,” Corvo started. “Mind telling me _why_ you didn’t warn me or Emily about his existence?”

                “We… didn’t think he would have posed an issue,” Greg started. “He only shows up maybe once every… few years or so. He showed up four months ago for a week and we though he wouldn’t show up again for a few more years.”

                Corvo pinched the bridge of his nose with his left hand, hearing a small hiss coming from the mark. He didn’t want to think about having to relive the sensation of nearly drowning. At least, he hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.

                “Okay then, Toni,” Corvo turned and glared at him. “Why did you not warn me when we both saw the fog last week?”

                “You saw the fog?” Katrina’s turn to speak. “Toni you saw the damn black fog and you didn’t tell us?!”

                “I thought it was nothing! I didn’t want to scare Corvo or Emily off with weird urban legends!” Toni tried to defend.

                “Urban legend!” Katrina scoffed. “Whatever he is, he’s no urban legend and is real! We’ve all seen what he can do!”

                “Wait, so you don’t know what he is?” Corvo finally returned to the conversation, trying to stop whatever fight might have happened between Katrina and Toni. His head was beginning to hurt and the mark on his hand was starting to burn.

                “No one does,” Greg again. The other two calmed down as he continued: “There have been theory’s about his existence, dating as far back as more than hundreds of years ago. Texts, images, people with his mark on their visible bodies.”

                “So why does he mark people?” Corvo asked again.

                “We’re not sure,” Greg began. “The last man to get marked, when the Outsider appeared four months ago, he disappeared. Not dead, but… we think he ran off because of it.”

                “And none of you have thought about looking up _what_ he could be?” Corvo argued. “He shows up on your ranch and turns worlds into underwater floating voids and you haven’t looked up to _what_ he might be?”

                “Underwater…?” Toni questioned. “Corvo, you disappeared. You fell _into_ the ground and showed up out of the barn.”

                Corvo covered his face with his hands to try and wipe away the dark purple rings under his eyes. He just wanted to feel like he had a decent night of sleep. He wanted a decent night of sleep. He just wanted sleep. The mark continued to hiss a little.

                “Fine, I’ll ask him next time I see him,” Corvo stated simply.

                All three of them let out audible gasps, Katrina shocked with her hand over her chest, Greg staring wide-eyed through his glasses and Toni gripping onto the table with his mouth open. Instantly all three of them were telling him to go against trying to search for the being again, who knows how powerful he could be, what if he decided to kill Corvo or cause him to run off, what about Emily?

                The last one hit his heart like a bullet. _The bullet collided with her chest._ What would happen to Emily with all of this? He could try to protect her by not telling her anything, but what if she already had seen the being? What if he already spoke to her?

                The night ended with Greg, Toni, and Katrina all begging for Corvo to not go back out during the odd hours of the morning in search of the Outsider. Corvo agreed. It seems he might not have to leave the house to see the ethereal being again. He made himself a corporeal form in their world, but in his world… what was Corvo?

                Going over to the couch, he laid his back down on it and closed his eyes.

                “Alright Outsider, show me your world,” he said.

                Nothing.

                Corvo peeked open and eye to look around. Still the barn. Still solid. Air felt fine. No bizarre puddles of black liquid. No black fog. No Outsider. He let out a groan as he covered his face with his arm, the mark still hissing at him.

                This was not at all what he was expecting out of this move. He was expecting to deal with Emily hating it, eating southern comfort food, riding a horse, getting sunburnt and then maybe in a couple months be able to go back up north and help Callista with getting the money back to be care holders of it and to make sure Emily is well off with taking the company back as her own in her mother’s footsteps.

                Instead he got some mythical being who put stars in the sky and threw a hissing tattoo on his hand. Nothing was turning out how it was supposed to be.

                “Just let me sleep tonight,” he groaned, tired of the nightmares and the weird floating men. He just wanted to sleep. “Please.”

                He woke up the next morning on the floor with a few pillows underneath his head and some warm blankets over him. The sun was already up. Corvo let out a sigh as he nuzzled his pillow just a tiny bit more and started to push himself up, getting himself ready for whatever they needed him to do for the day.

                It went by like any other, with no signs of the Outsider. No signs of any black fog either. Just the hot sun and the sound of horses and cattle.

                The next few days moved like this as well. Corvo woke up as the sun rose, feeling refreshed and well-rested; the bags under his eyes starting to diminish. It was two days later that something began to brew.

                When Corvo laid down on the couch again to sleep, he felt the air shift and the world swallow him whole. It felt warm and wet, like being inside a mouth. Being swallowed by a whale, and he was headed to the belly of it.

                When light finally hit his eyes, it was the lilacs and deep purples and blackest blacks from the first encounter with the Outsider. Corvo’s feet landed gently on the ground of a floating piece of street. No other way to put it, but Corvo thought this place looked what sleep felt like. Weightless, hollow, lonely. He looked down to his feet, noticing he was without his shoes and in the sweatpants and t-shirt he had fallen asleep in.

He felt stuck with where he was, moving to the closest edge to the small floating street he was on. There, steps flew to where he needed them to be to get to the next spot. Carefully walking along them, he pressed his foot onto the platform. The steps behind him disappeared.

 _This… is some strange dream_ , he thought as he moved to the gazebo floating nearby with the help of the steps. When he sat down inside of it, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Maybe if he fell asleep here, he’d wake back up in his world.

That was not the case. Opening his eyes back up, he was disheartened to find he was still in the strange dream world. And no sign of that… being, or entity whatever he was, either. He got up and kept moving, finding himself on a much larger section of streets, landing softly as if gravity had changed.

                It was then that he moved to the edge of the section he was on and small stepping stones appeared in a line further down the way. Following the line of the walkway, he could see a figure in the distance. Most likely the Outsider, but when he squinted attempting to focus more on it, his heart skipped a beat.

                How could it be…?

                Corvo wasted no time to make his way over step by step across the pathway towards the other side. The figure grew closer and turned towards Corvo. He wasn’t quite at the new platform before he saw her smile. Beaming whites with a thin line of dark red lipstick and beautiful, warm eyes. And just as she smiled, she was gone, something laying down in her place on the ground.

_Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes._

                Heartbroken and feeling the loss of her life being ripped away from him for a second time caused his knees to feel weak as Corvo struggled to make it to the last step and onto the next platform. There, down where her body had stood, was a small hair tie. Insignificant at first glance, but how the shimmering purple and silver threads wove between a navy blue, it wasn’t insignificant on the second look. It was Jessamine’s lucky hair tie. A symbol of her youth that even Corvo had worn on a few rough days. He thought he had lost it. But… how did it end up here? He searched for an answer around him and failed to find one.

                Looking down at the hair tie, Corvo stretched it around his wrist, to keep it close as he moved throughout the dreamscape land. He expected to see her again. He did not. He expected to see the Outsider with his strange combination of galactic reaches and morning fog. He never appeared.

                The ground shook beneath him as Corvo looked down, the earth beginning to crack and crumble, showing the lavenders and violets through the open holes. Frantic, he looked up and tried to move away, reaching and grabbing for anything.

_Take my mark, Corvo. And with it, you hold powers that are beyond human imagination._

                His foot slipped. His hand reached out to grab anything. He held his breath.

                And blinked.

                Solid ground skidded beneath his feet, causing him to let out a sharp yelp as he staggered and fell to one knee. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and his blood rushing and trying to pump faster. There was something sour tasting in his mouth.

                “Well done.”

                It wasn’t until the voice reached his ears that he realized he was holding onto the being’s hand; the pale fingers keeping him supported so he didn’t fall again. Corvo stood and pull his hand back, noticing the golden flecks and dark smoke coming from the mark. It slowly came to a stop and returned to appearing as nothing more than an old tattoo.

                He looked back up at the Outsider, and before he could get a word in, those black eyes narrowed and those pale lips quirked up in a small smile (if Corvo could even call it that), and he tilted his head. His body melted away to purples and blacks and those little stars that he’d released before. They fell to the ground, seeping off the edges of the platform and down to join the rest of the foggy background.

                Corvo’s eye shot open and he felt like he needed to puke again. The floor was hard underneath him and his head felt heavy. Was he running a fever? He placed the back of his left hand on his forehead, shocked to find that his hand was hotter. Pulling it away with a hiss, he saw the mark burning and shimmering as it was in the dreamland.

                Circular in pattern with sharp spines coming from it; The Outsider’s Mark. The hissing reduced and the shimmering subsided and he was left with what looked like faded ink. The edges slightly faded, the colour not as black as it could be, and the appearance that it was beneath his skin, and not on top of it. He lifted his right hand for comparison, eyes wide when he spotted the glittery hair tie.

                He sat up and slipped it off his wrist to inspect it. It felt real alright. Real, and true, and the last piece of Jessamine in his hands. Carefully, he pulled his hair back and tied it up, certain parts of the front of his hair not long enough and staying to frame his face.

                He never got the chance to talk with the Outsider.

                His mind remembered the jump he had done in the dreamland. If Jessamine’s hair tie came back with him, perhaps so did that. He wouldn’t test by going over a large gap. But he would test outside.

                Looking out the window, the sun was just making a presence in the sky. No oranges and reds, only a slightly lighter blue. Emily wouldn’t be up for a while. And the others wouldn’t see him from here.

                Struggling to get up, Corvo made his way up to his feet. He still felt lightheaded, his heart was still beating too quickly for his liking and his body still covered in a cold sweat. Heading out, still in his pajamas, he let out a small shiver as the cold and damp grass found its way in between his toes. He was reminded of drowning.

                Corvo headed away from the barn and ranch until he was comfortable with the idea that no one would see him doing… whatever he was planning to do. He still wasn’t sure what had happened, as the Outsider left before he got the chance to even say anything. Frustrating to say the least. He was hoping he’d get another chance.

                “Alright, you galactic piece of shit,” he grumbled to nothing. “Tell me ‘well done’, but not how to do it again.”

                Taking a deep breath, Corvo cracked his neck and stretched his arms above his head. Stay limber, and maybe the ground won’t disappear beneath his feet again to possibly his unlikely demise. Stretching out, he finally looked at a point on the ground to focus on.

                “Go.”

                He threw his left hand forward.

                Nothing.

                “Jump.”

                Nothing.

                “I’m in peril help me out.”

                His own type of monotone wasn’t very convincing, and it still produced nothing. Inevitably, Corvo decided that this was all a continuation of a high he had back when he was young where he swore he had an extra leg. He was still high, wasn’t he? He looked down to see only two legs, still intact.

                “I call upon the powers of the Outsider to move me forward three feet.”

                Not even that.

                Letting out a sigh, Corvo laid back and onto the grass and looked up at the sky as the deep hues of navy blushed away from the morning sun. He held up the marked hand and stared at it, running his other hand over it to feel the strange hum that came from it.

                “You’re going to have to explain yourself at some point Outsider. Maybe this time don’t find me after a week of nothing.”

                Corvo got up and started to head back to the barn to get dressed. On his way back, he thought about the words that the Outsider had said prior, about giving him powers beyond human imagination. He was treating it like a physical attribute. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the barn about twenty feet away. He looked up at the roof.

                He didn’t need to be in peril, and he didn’t need to praise the being in any way. He just wanted to move as he did in the dreamworld. He wanted to blink to the roof. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He imagined the roof beneath his feet.

                The mark began to burn.

                Opening his eyes, he could see the spot where he wanted to go and took a sharp breath in-

                 And moved.

                -and let it out as he felt the ground beneath him disappear, grabbing onto the roofing tile as a lopsided and goofy grin covered his face. Shifting carefully, Corvo turned to sit up and have his feet dangle over the gutter as he looked to the rising sun. With all this talk of magic and floating beings, he did have to give credit where credit was due. He just jumped up onto a barn from the ground and lived because of some strange glowing tattoo he was given. And that was pretty intense.

                “Corvo!”

                Peeking over the edge of the barn, Corvo spotted Katrina staring wide-eyed up at him with keys in hand and a bag in the other.

                “How… How did you get up there?” she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Do you need help getting down?”

                Corvo thought about blinking down and showing off but, remembering how she and the others didn’t react so well to him being marked, he decided that he probably shouldn’t go about doing that. Though… showing off that the Outsider gifted him with non-death and dangerous powers was definitely something to consider. Taking a few deep breaths, Corvo decided he should go with the latter, maybe it would help the others to have someone that was marked by the Outsider nearby to help understand him.

                He took a deep breath and he blinked, struggling to keep his balance as his feet hit the ground. He moved his arms a bit and took another deep breath as he turned and looked at the shocked face of Katrina whose eyes began to roll back. Corvo quickly caught her before she hit the ground and helped her inside, setting her at the table.

                Getting her a glass of water he placed it in front of her and watched as shaky hands held it. She said nothing, only stared wide-eyed and attempted to get some water into her mouth. Corvo sat across from her with his hands clasped, waiting for her to speak. Her voice never came.

                “So—“

                “No,” Katrina cut him off.

                “No what?” Corvo questioned with brow furrowed.

                “No… to that,” she pointed at the mark. “Stop using it. Don’t use it. Don’t give in to him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

                “Neither do you.”

                It was a simple remark, but her expression changed drastically. Corvo felt his stomach drop from it. She knew something.

                “I need to get these to the fridge before they get too warm,” she motioned to her bag which Corvo now recognized as filled with fresh produce. “Stop… stop trying to contact him, the Outsider. We talked about this.”

                She got up as she spoke, making her way to the door and headed out without saying goodbye or giving another point to _why_ the Outsider could be dangerous. Normally, Corvo would drop it, but they kept refusing to give him straight answers. If they knew when the Outsider showed up, and it sounded like he had showed up several times before, Corvo wanted something a little more solid than just ‘stop’. He barely knew anything and was struggling with the pieces fitting together, and they knew _something_.

                Storming out of the barn, he quickly blinked in front of Katrina to stop her in her tracks. She let out a scream as she jumped back, desperately trying to hold onto her groceries.

                “We’ve barely talked about this Katrina,” Corvo sternly spoke, crossing his arms. He didn’t like being even this tiny bit of aggressive, but he needed something.

                “Stop it Corvo!” she exclaimed. “We talked _enough_ about this! Isn’t what we told you enough to stop?”

                “Possibly,” she could see her chin quivering. “But you’re still not telling me something. _Why_ are you so scared of him?”

                “Why do you think?! He’s a man who forms from smoke and has black eyes and pale skin, shouldn’t that account for something?”

                Her cheeks were going dark from blood and frustration.

                “But what has he _done_? You keep warning me about how dangerous he is, and you haven’t told me what he _can_ do, what he _has_ done!”

                “He’s…” Katrina fumbled over her words, attempting to find them in a drastic moment. “I can’t… Corvo. I can’t.”

                “You can’t what? Can’t find something he’s done?”

                “Can’t _talk_ about this!”

                “Then who can!?”

                Katrina didn’t answer, only pushed past Corvo’s shoulder and headed back to the house. He didn’t try to stop her this time. And it definitely didn’t seem like she was going to be giving him any answers, and he was sure she would tell Greg and Toni and they sure as hell wouldn’t give him any answers. And The Outsider himself didn’t seem too keen on talking to him yet about what was going on.

                _If you want something done right, do it yourself_ , he thought to himself as he brushed a hand through the front of his hair and let out a groan. It was either going to be research or contacting the being again to get something. And seeing as how he was visited earlier, there was a good chance he wouldn’t see him again for some time.

                Heading into the barn Corvo left a small note for Emily about where he was going to be, grabbed his wallet and keys, went to his car and headed into town. Greg said that The Outsider had been around for some time, so there had to be some kind of text online or in books or something. There had to be something.

                When he parked his car, he noticed the text from Emily, telling him to drive safe and to pick up ‘ _things_ ’. Lady things he figured. The library was fairly empty save the one librarian and a couple teens towards the back giggling about something. Stepping up to the front desk, Corvo gave a warm smile as he was greeted by the undivided attention from the woman.

                “Would you happen to have an occult section here?” he asked, being greeted by the rather… distrusting sneer from the woman. He had to make a lie quick.

                “It’s for an elective college class,” he quickly followed up. Her face let up.

                “You seem a tad old to be takin’ classes like that,” she pushed her glasses to the end of her nose to look over the computer in front of her.

                “I became a father rather young, and being a Dad was more important to me at the time,” he charmed. That seemed to get her.

                “Oh, bless your heart,” her voice was sweet and sing-songy. “What major are you finishing up?”

                “Criminal justice,” that wasn’t necessarily a lie. “It was history at first but then my little girl told me she wanted me to be a cop to protect her.”

                The woman let out a soft click and put a hand over her heart in adoration. Good, she was being reeled in. She would be more open to giving something he could use. With a final smile, she handed him a small paper with the decimal’s that he needed for all the occult books they have. A whopping three books. Amazing. Extremely useful.

                Finding them all, he went into one of the back rooms of the library for some privacy and sat himself down with some printer paper and a pen that he sniped from the copying machine. The research began. And he found nothing. Nothing on the black smoke, nothing on The Outsider or his mark. No images, no text, not even a footnote. Seems the only way to get information now was to find the source and get it from him.

                That night Corvo sat outside with a flashlight on top of the barn until three in the morning and woke up at six on the floor of the kitchen.

                During the next week he did the same thing every night, waiting for The Outsider for some kind of call.

                It was on the eighth day that far in the distance, he could see something grow. That was it. That was what he was looking for. A deep purple giving the area around it a glow as if a city stood there. Corvo didn’t take the horse this time as she seemed useless before.

With dusty boots and a warm hoodie, he headed towards the purple hum. He’d been paying so much attention to the light, that he didn’t notice that he was no longer in the flat lands that he had been staying at, but in fact in a thick forest. The trees were pitch black or ashy grey and when he touched the bark it crumbled like charcoal. He never saw this in the daylight before. He turned around to see that this ghost forest had already surrounded him. His knees began to feel cold as black smoke pulled him further in.

It was that which led him to the source of the purple glow. A craggily shrine was built, made from the charcoaled branches of the trees, wires and barbs holding it all together. An old fence from a barn long forgotten. Royal purple fabrics draped over it in a cross and pooled at the bottom. Lanterns hung that had a mix of bright blue and deep purple glass which emitted the hum and glow that he saw. There was a bowl that sat snuggled and tight in the center of the x of fabric and inside was a whispering, singing bone. It looked like an old sailor’s scrimshaw with rings of metal and driftwood handles sticking out of it.

And there, in the center of the bone, was the Outsider’s mark. Burning gold and bright, it sang to him. The mark on his hand began to burn as he brought them closer until the bone, warm and electric, was in his hand. The singing ended. The bone felt small and light in his hand. Much smaller than it had been when he saw it.

“So you found it,” came the monotone and smooth voice of the Outsider.

Corvo looked up to see the youthful face staring down. The being was floating again, lowering himself to sit on the shrine now eye level with Corvo.

“…I was supposed to be searching for it?” Corvo asked, running his thumb over the texture of the mark carved into the bone.

“My, my,” The Outsider smirked and tilted his head ever so slightly. “I give you my mark and you don’t even know what to look for.”

“Listen…” Corvo rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know what _you_ are. I tried asking the people who keep warning me about you, I’ve checked the library, and I can’t find anything.”

“Seems you’re more proactive than the past ones,” he started. “I am The Outsider, and you bare my mark.”

“Yeah,” Corvo was tired. “I got that. But what _are_ you, why are people so afraid of you.”

“I am the last of my kind, born from blood and stone and brought into this world to become the Void.”

“That doesn’t answer anything. Are you a god? Last of your kind? You’re making less sense then Greg, Toni, and Katrina.”

That youthful face went straight and sour without ever moving a muscle. His eyes squinted and his mouth tightened as he reached up and gripped the bone in Corvo’s hand, knuckles whiter than the rest of his skin.

“Take this rune, and keep it close. It shall beat as your heart does. Katrina won’t speak well of me and never has, but you’ll find something in the basement if you only _look hard enough_. You were right about thinking that she isn’t giving you all the answers. Ever wonder why the library only has three books on the occult?”

“What makes you think I can fully trust you? Each of them say I shouldn’t.”

“I’ve never done anything to harm them, you, or your daughter.”

“So why mark me?”

                “Haven’t you already figured that out, dear Corvo? I need your help. The others that I have marked before you showed promise of being able to do what I could not, but each one failed or left and only begged for power, my affection, or my place. You, stranger of this land and broken-hearted, only have room to gain—which I shall fill with my gifts if only you respond by helping me in return.”

                Now Corvo felt nervous. He was getting answers, yes, but he was scared that the next thing the Outsider was going to say was something he wouldn’t be able to fulfill. But he wasn’t going to be going anywhere and he needed to know what was going on.

                “Okay,” he agreed, being given a smile from the being. “I’ll help you, but I want you to promise me one thing out of all of this: Emily stays safe.”

                “I can agree to that.”

                The being began to melt into the black fog again as the charcoaled forest began to fade with him.

                “Wait! What am I supposed to help you with?!” Corvo cried out as the world shifted back into the flatlands with ash beneath his feet. Even the shrine was gone; the glow having dimmed away to nothing and he was only greeted by the soft kiss of the morning sun, warming the sky with its rays. He squinted some as he stared out at the grassy lands wondering how, of all things, was the Outsider able to do this; bend the world to his will. Just how much power did he have? What was the line between a mythical being and a god?

                Staring down at the scrimshaw, rune, Corvo felt the warm hum it created in his hand. Putting it into his pocket, he looked back to the barn. He… didn’t even walk all that far. He swore he had covered more ground than that. Heading back into the barn, he went up to the small bedroom that only housed his still unpacked suitcases and things. He grabbed a bin from the corner to sit on it while he placed the rune on the bed to look it over.

                It didn’t do much if anything. Corvo was beginning to think it _didn’t_ do anything other than hum and sit warm in his hands. But the Outsider said to keep it close. He hoped in his pocket would be fine. If Katrina or the others found out about him harboring something from the Outsider, surely he’d be kicked out onto the streets. Or they’d find a way to have him locked up for good.

                “Something in the basement huh?” he muttered out loud to himself. Well, it’s more of a lead than he’d gotten from anyone else here. But now he just wanted to sleep. Putting the rune on the floor next to his bed, he changed into something more comfortable before dropping himself onto the bed.


	3. Answers

                Another week had passed and Corvo kept the Rune close, though he never figured out what it did to help. Of course, the Outsider was being elusive as always it seemed. He wondered if the previous marked had ever had to deal with the Outsider being this distant with them as well. The thought didn’t stay for long as he was ripped out of his thoughts from Emily shouting from the bathroom.

                “ _DAD!_ ” her voice was shrill and loud and very, very angry.

                “What, what!” Corvo ran to the door, ready to open if needed.

                “I thought I told you to pick me up pads!”

                Pads? Corvo couldn’t remember… the text. Back when he was at the library. He’d gotten so mad about not having found anything that he didn’t even remember.

                “I’ll go see if Katrina has some and maybe she can take you to get more?”

                “Just hurry up please? I don’t want to sit on this toilet for two hours!”

                “Okay, okay, Em, I’ll run.”

                Corvo ran to the main house as fast as he could and when he got to the door, Katrina already had a look of concern. When he explained the situation, she rushed upstairs and came back down with several boxes and told Corvo to not return to the barn until she was done. And out the door she went.

                The rune in his pocket hummed.

                The basement.

                Corvo made his way down stairs into the dimly lit basement. It was finished mostly with drywall except the one accent that was lined with brick. He had to chuckle at how well that played out for him in his favor. But he had to think about how much time he would have. He could maybe guess ten minutes if Katrina only stayed for the pad exchange, longer if they started talking.

                Something started to sing, but it wasn’t the rune in his pocket. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. He couldn’t quite… figure it out and yet…

When he opened his eyes, the world had changed. Everything pulsed and swirled, as if the Void was starting to slip into his mind. He could see the black fog swirling around and his eyes started to sting, like he’d been staring at the sun too long. He looked for the singing, finding nothing behind any of the walls, but something beneath his feet.

There below him sat an extra room with what looked like a desk and several books. And something that was loud and bright and vibrating. He looked for an entrance, finding a small latched door underneath the stairs. Lifting the corner of the carpet, he pulled the door opened and climbed down. Finding a small desk lamp, he turned it on and blinked his eyes a few times as the wild vision faded and he could see normally, albeit dizzy.

There on the desk, sat a small singing charm. Similar to the rune, it looked like some kind of scrimshaw but without the Outsider’s mark. And while he wanted to take it, he knew he couldn’t. Katrina would figure it out.

Sitting down at the desk, Corvo grabbed a book and started to skim through it. Then the next, the next, the one after, another one. All of them had hand written notes on the side, underlining certain sentences, circling faces in images. All about the Outsider and his marked. This was like some conspiracy theory and Katrina was writing the whole damned thing.

But the thing was, was that he didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking for. The Outsider marked him so he could help, but never specified what. The singing charm was a clear indicator that he was doing the right thing, but he wouldn’t be able to remove that because Katrina would know it was him. And he wasn’t sure how many of these books he might be able to take without her not seeing them on the way back to the barn. He’d have to find a time to come back, to focus more on what’s at hand.

The most he got from the books was that the Outsider existed for longer than he thought. They were right about that. But what he needed to know was why Katrina was hoarding all of it. Did she not want other people to find out about him? The other question was, did Greg and Toni know about this room?

Corvo heard the door start to open. As quickly as he could, he turned to light off and climbed back up, quietly closing the door and covering it back up with the carpet. He made some excuse to Katrina of a missing charger that he thought he had left in the basement one night, but was sure that Emily took it and never returned it. But it didn’t hurt to check. Katrina bought it. Though he knew she’d be checking the room again after he left to make sure that singing charm was still there.

That night he sat on the roof again, waiting for a sign.

“And what have you found?” came the smooth and slow voice of the Outsider.

Corvo jumped at the sound, careful not to fall off the roof and looked up. He was floating. Giving a sigh, Corvo patted the spot next to him, implying for the Outsider to sit. The being looked at him with rather wide eyes for a moment before his feet hit the roof and he sat down, joining Corvo.

“Don’t leave me with unanswered questions this time,” Corvo started.

The two sat there for a moment, watching the wind gently move the grass below and watched as the Earth rotated, the stars only staying still. The only sound that Corvo could hear was his own breath, which made him wonder if the Outsider did.

“What questions do you have?” The Outsider returned after the much needed silence of them two sitting there. When Corvo turned to look at him, he was rather shocked to see how the Outsider sat; knees to his chin and arms wrapped around his legs, an _almost_ smile gracing his face.

“What am I supposed to be helping you with?” Corvo looked back to the sky, laying himself against the tiling to where he could see the stars and the Outsider at the same time.

“I thought that was made clear with the books,” Outsider began. “I need you to fill in the blanks where I cannot. Katrina’s bone charm makes it impossible for me to see beyond the floor. I know it is there because I saw Greg make it for her.”

“Fill in the blanks?” Corvo looked to the Outsider.

“I’ve been around here longer than certain kingdoms, I’ve watched the fall of man hundreds of times. I’ve seen everything and all.”

“…but…?”

“I don’t know why I am here.”

“I thought you said you knew?”

“I know I was born of blood and stone, and brought here to be the Void.”

“That dream place I’ve been to twice now?”

“The very same. The world that was here before I was formed to it, before I became it.”

“And you don’t know why you became the Void?”

“No, not at all. The books that Katrina began to hide from me would hold the secret of why I am here, as she’s been hard at work writing away down there. They have more bone charms in their house that stops me from seeing into it. There was only one other person that had the power to try and stop me, or shift me elsewhere. Another of my Marked, Delilah. She is, however, long gone. I lost the connection with her some time ago. She wanted to take my Void, my world and make her own playground.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“You, dear Corvo, are doing exactly as you should. Investigate and infiltrate their home, find out as much as you can about me. Fill in the blanks.”

Corvo grabbed the Outsider’s wrist before any type of disappearing act could happen. The being’s shoulders tensed and his eyes stared back at him; deep, dark, and lonely.

“And what will you do when you know?” Corvo finally brought up.

“I will continue to be,” the Outsider progressed. “I will watch mankind fall again and again, I will outlive kingdoms and nations, and I will know why I do. I will watch you grow old and die Corvo, and then watch you be reborn. Perhaps I will mark you a second time.”

Corvo’s grip got tighter and his throat started to clench like he was going to cry.

“You have another question, don’t you dear Corvo?” The Outsider’s smile and head tilt made Corvo’s chest tighten more.

“Was that _my_ Jessamine in the Void?”

The Outsider paused, sliding his wrist out of Corvo’s grasp.

“That was a part of her soul. A final piece of her that she held onto to give you one final gift. She saw you, she felt you, she heard you. But you hold the final piece of her now.” Outsider gently tapped the hair tie wrapped around Corvo’s wrist.

_Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes._

Corvo’s vision was already blurry as the Outsider faded to nothing. The black fog pooled around Corvo’s body as it reached to hold his cheeks and then fade to stars. Corvo wasn’t sure how long he stayed up on the roof feeling hot tears roll down his face and sting his skin. He covered his face with one hand before kissing the elastic around his wrist gently.

He slept with tears in his eyes.

Corvo had waited weeks for Katrina to leave again for the day. This time she wanted to take Emily and the boys out to the larger town miles out to do the big grocery stock shopping. Emily said yes because she was starting to feel stuck and needed to leave the barn for more than just a trip to the convenience store.

                Corvo took this time to go back to the basement and search. He had his phone fully charged and a notepad with him to document what he could for the Outsider. Each book had their own section about the being, talking about his mark that had shown up on walls, on hands, on runes. He was reminded of the weight in his pocket. The rune became a part of him, always near him.

                When Corvo moved through the books, he found loose sheets of paper with Katrina’s handwriting on them, her own notes about the Outsider. Names written down that he didn’t recognize: Daud, Vera Moray, Delilah Cooperson, who were these people? Previously marked? He found terrible copies of interviews from people who had “claimed to see the devil with black eyes”. That was the Outsider alright.

                Then he found the paper that told him how to make a bone charm. He took a picture of that one. He’d need that to replace the one in the basement. But now… Now Corvo felt confused. Katrina, yes, was blocking everything from the Outsider. She and Greg definitely seemed to be in on it together (was Toni?) as Greg made the bone charm and Katrina harbored it. But if she was always concerned about what he could do, then what was all this? Did she worship him? Were she and Greg a part of a cult that followed him?

                Corvo still had too many questions and not enough answers and he seemed to keep getting more and more questions the more and more he looked into this. For every answer, ten more questions. But at this point, he knew time was running out and he was going to have to head back to the barn.

                When he got back he laid out all the notes on his bed and placed the rune next to them. For the next hour Corvo went through all the notes and tried to summarize them for himself so he could pass the information to the Outsider far ease.

                He waited until nightfall.

                Corvo laid himself back on the roof tiles again staring up at the sky. No air pollution, complete visibility. He’d yet to take Emily out during the night so she could experience this, she’d only ever really seen a few major constellations before, what with living in the city.

                He heard the soft step of the Outsider land next to him. When he turned his face to greet him, he found the being laying down next to him. Propping himself up on his elbows, Corvo furrowed his brow.

                “Hello, dear Corvo,” the being stated simply, the stars reflecting in his eyes. Corvo laid back down and stared up to the sky again.

                “Decided to just lay down with me this time instead of floating?”

                A soft thud on the roof proved Corvo that the Outsider didn’t know how to sit on solid ground.

                “I stand corrected,” Corvo smiled.

                There was that shared silence again between the two of them. Getting used to each other’s presence this close, this solid. Corvo felt like he should have been holding the Outsider’s hand, like in a stupid teen love movie. Except when he turned to start talking, the Outsider’s hand was towards the sky, those large specks of light that almost looked like dust left his skin and flew high.

                “They’re beautiful,” Corvo started as he watched them try to reach the stars. “Did you make the stars?”

                A silly question, Corvo realized, but he figured he’d ask. It got a smile from the Outsider. If felt lonely, sad, and maybe a bit hopeful with the way his eyebrows tilted and how his eyes squinted ever so slightly.

                “No,” the being responded. “But I try. The universe is far older than I, and I had no hand in it. But the night sky is much more beautiful than the Void.”

                “Why not put your stars in the Void?”

                “They never last long. Or the come and go, moving like heart beats.”

                “Do you have one?” Corvo bit the inside of his cheek as he realized how terrible that sounded.

                There came a sigh that almost sounded like a laugh as the Outsider placed a hand over his chest and gently squeezed.

                “If I did it no longer beats.”

                “Were you once human?”

                “Was that not your job to find out?”

                Corvo let out a soft laugh and a smile as he sat up, the Outsider joining him.

                “I couldn’t find anything about if you had a life prior to the one you have now. I found some names of the people you marked before me. Some accounts of people seeing you. You really have to keep yourself in check there, you’re in an area where people think you’re the Devil.”

                “So it must be.”

                Another laugh from Corvo.

                “I found out how Greg and Katrina made the bone charm, so I can make a duplicate and swap them.”

                Corvo opened his phone and showed the being the instructions. The light from the hone illuminated the Outsider’s skin that made it look translucent.  A shiver went down his spine. Those black and inky eyes looked over the instructions before he moved back and looked towards the sky again.

                “I couldn’t find anything else. Mostly just modern stuff and me finding things out about you that you’ve yet to tell me. Those people are your marked?”

                “Vera wanted my affection, Daud was useless, and Delilah wanted my place. There were others, but none as fascinating as you, dear Corvo.”

                “Tell me something about what you’ve experienced?”

                “I have seen so much Corvo. Everything is the same, and it bores me. Once every while I would see something that would peak my interest, and yet it would fade so quickly. I know you will fade.”

                “Well yeah, but that’s a bit grim. Tell me something that made you smile?”

                “Weddings.”

                That… was not the answer Corvo was expecting.

                “Certain sunsets during the cold nights of autumn in the far north off the coast. Whale song when they migrate. The sound of wind running through chimes. Heavy rain against glass while I sit outside and let myself get drenched. But even these, after seeing and hearing them so many times, have begun to bore me. Thousands of years of the same thing over and over again, the things that made me smile, the things that made me feel a little less lonely, have begun to feel like empty shells.”

                “Lonely?”

                “It was during when I marked Vera Moray. She was young, beautiful, had a shimmering smile, she was brilliant. I thought if I marked her, with her charming ways and her light feet, she would help me. She started to befriend me, as you have now, and I realized after thousands of years I was lonelier that I had though. But she fell in love, in obsession, with me. It drove her delusional, it drove her mad. She sings to the rats and birds now as she can no longer see them.”

                “I know why you marked me, but were you hoping for a friend?”

                There was a pause. The Outsider was thinking about his answer.

                “I think so.”

                And with that he left. Melted down into thick black smoke and dripping off the ceiling to the grass below where he disappeared. Gone back to the Void to think, Corvo assumes. To watch, he knows.

                Corvo woke the next morning to find what he needed to make the bonecharm by his bed. Seems the Outsider worked fast. Corvo worked just as fast. Following the instructions that Katrina had from her books, he made the charm and held it in his hands. It didn’t sing the song that the other had. But he did feel stronger with it.

                He was able to get into the house without anyone knowing. He got down to the basement without anyone seeing either. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and looked back up, seeing the forms of people walking far above him. Just Katrina and the boys. Toni and Greg were out of the field he was sure.

                Taking the charm she had and putting his own down, he took a moment. If he just switched them out, he wouldn’t get any answers from Katrina. She would figure it out soon enough. He was getting some answers from Outsider, maybe he could test his luck here.

                So he made a ruckus. He knocked over one of the desks and looked up, seeing Katrina move to the basement. He watched her pause at the bottom of the stairs before making her way to the opening. There sat Corvo at the desk, staring directly into Katrina’s eyes. He blinked a couple times so his vision would return to normal.

                He could see her shoulders tense and her breath get stuck in her throat. Her lips went into a thin line.

                “You walk out and I’m burning everything in this room.”

                “How did you find it?”

                “Take a wild guess.”

                She looked down. Corvo knew she wanted to say the Outsider, but she looked too ashamed to even mention his name. Corvo held up the singing bonecharm.

                “Tell me everything,” he started. “Or I break it.”

                “No! Don’t. Corvo,” she reached out desperately before stopping when she saw him grip the charm harder. “I...”

                The moment was silent and tense. The strain on Katrina’s face was agonizing, her thoughts surely reeling on what to say, how to go about saying it, and what she could do. Corvo sat there with a cold look on his face, tired of her dodging anything and everything from before of what he had tried to ask before. Since the moment the Outsider came into his life, no one gave him straight answers. And now, months later, he was finally going to get them.

                “Fine,” Katrina gave in, lowering her guard. Walking over to a corner, she grabbed a folding chair and opened it up, sitting in front of Corvo. She sat straight with her hands on her knees and stared at him.

                “How much do you really know about the Outsider?” Corvo started.

                “More than I’d like to admit,” Katrina started. “I’m… I’m a researcher, a descendant of people who found out about him over four thousand years ago. Greg is one of them as well, though he mostly does the field work while I analyze.”

                “Day one, start.” Corvo felt horrible for being so threatening.

                “Corvo,” Katrina sighed, rubbing one of her arms. “I’m bound under code to not say everything.”

                Corvo tightened his grip on the bone charm and Katrina put her hands up in defeat. His grip loosened.

                “He… was once a man. A boy, I think. We have accounts of him being either in his early teens or his late twenties, and we’re not sure which.”

                “Nonetheless, he was human?”

                “Yes. Every account we have of him before his time as the Outsider is ‘He was born of blood and stone and became the Void’. Some old cult symbols that look similar to his mixed with other sigils of the time. Watcher, Protector, the likes.”

                “He was sacrificed then?”

                “We believe, yes. We’re not sure if to become the Void, to become and icon _in_ the Void, or _for_ the Void. There’s holes for us too, and we’ve been studying him for thousands of years.”

                “Why do you study him?”

                Another pause from Katrina. She was hesitating again on her answer, unsure of what to share and what not to share.

                “I think, originally, my ancestors wanted to take hold of his powers and use them. But as time went and none of them were being marked, they gave up on it. Now, Greg and I work with the government to keep a hold on him. Make sure he doesn’t rise to destroy all of humanity.”

                “Seems humanity does it by itself fairly well, I don’t think he has much power in that.”

                “But what if he marks the wrong person? The next Hitler? A dictator with powers like yours would be able to take what he wanted and when. And that’s what we’re trying to make sure _doesn’t_ happen.”

                “So… the government knows of him?”

                “Think… Area 51 kind of thing. They don’t _know_ , but everyone knows they know.”

                “So people know about him?”

                “Probably. But one of those situations where no one knows if he’s real or not? Kind of like Bigfoot.”

                Corvo took a moment to look at Katrina with his brow furrowed. So much to process. He took a deep breath and placed his hands on his lap, keeping the bonecharm in one of them.

                “Who can I talk to about the ritual?”

                “What?”

                “You said he was created by blood and stone, confirmed by the Outsider himself as he’s said the same exact thing.”

                “The Outsider doesn’t know?”

                “No. So who can I talk about the ritual with?”

                “Uh…” Katrina got up and clicked a button underneath the desk, a small compartment popping down from the inside. She grabbed a light colored folder that had laminated pages inside. The pages looked hundreds of years old. Carefully she picked through them, glancing over some of them to only place them back. Finally she pulled one out and closed the folder.

                “Here.”

                She handed him the sheet that had a list of locations and a few more images of the Outsider’s mark.

                “I think my ancestors once went to these places, but they came back with nothing. I’m not sure if that’s because there was nothing for them to find, or if they couldn’t because they weren’t gifted.”

                “Thank you, Katrina.”

                “Corvo,” she started. “When you came down to visit us, I wasn’t expecting all of this. I wanted Emily to feel like she could trust us, start coping—for _you_ to start coping. It was supposed to be good. I was expecting to have an old friend back. And yet…”

                “I know, Katrina,” Corvo started, opening his hand on the bonecharm and holding it up. “I was expecting to eat southern comfort food, work on the ranch a bit, deal with the loss of Jessamine in a way I know isn’t exactly the best.”

                “Running away?”

                “Yeah…”

                “And what about now?”

                “Hm?”

                “What about now? What has all of this done for you?”

                “Outsider he… he showed me her. He showed me Jessamine. I saw her smile one last time because her soul was in the Void for a second. Just long enough. He’s helped me more than I think. I know I’ll still grieve about Jessamine, I might never stop grieving about Jessamine. But somehow being marked by an ancient being has… oddly helped. Again, probably not in the best way.”

                “What’s he like? The Outsider?”

                “He’s lonely. Sad. Katrina, I’m so sorry about me being so aggressive. He… he asked me to help him. To figure out why he was there. If I can just… find more about the ritual I think I can finally give him answers.”

                The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Corvo placed her rune back on the desk and stood up.

                “He’s more human than you think Katrina. I think he’s just forgotten he was one.”


	4. Bonds

                Corvo was able to find one of the locations that was on the list. He used his vision, he blinked higher to find better vantage points, but he never was able to find anything. No amount of powers was able to help him in finding anything that seemed to be remotely useful. It was mostly flat lands with some trees and nothing. An hour drive for nothing.

\---

                “He was a fool,” Outsider’s face had become a grimace at the mere mention of a fake-marked man. “Using smoke and mirrors to try and give an idea that he was marked by me.” 

                “Sounds like he was jealous of you,” Corvo hadn’t stopped smiling as the Outsider told the story.

                “Most people who have seen the gifts I can give are, dear Corvo.”

\---

                The second location was about a two or three hour drive. Corvo was bored most of the way there, and still had to walk another few miles to find it. Who knew he would find a small cave in an area like this. Its walls were slightly wet as if it had just rained the night before. Moss and lichen grew around certain areas in an abundance. There was a hum further in.

                The walls grew darker, the hum grew louder. Further in, Corvo was both relieved and upset to find a shrine. It was something, but not what he was looking for. It must have been put here long before and had been untouched. The candles were long burnt out, there were plants growing through parts of the fabric, the wood was flaking and rotted. It just screamed ‘I’ve been here for hundreds of years’.

                Corvo took the dusty rune and put it into his pocket.

                “I haven’t seen this one in a long time…” the Outsider appeared, sitting on the edge of the altar.

                Corvo smiled at his appearance.

\---

                “So Emily just stomps on the emissary’s foot because he had tried to persuade Jessamine for a date,” Corvo was telling the story this time as he leaned against the railing of an old gazebo in the Void. It was soft and quiet there as Outsider listened intently to the story. Corvo knew that it would be a grain of sand to the being long later, but in the moment he was into it.

                “She will move on to do greater things, Corvo,” Outsider tilted his head to the side with a smile of his. “Make sure she keeps that attitude in the future.”

                “Oh I’m sure she will.”

\---

                The third location also had promise to it, but it was mostly empty. Save for a few things of graffiti, there wasn’t anything that Corvo was looking for.

\---

                “Do you think I have a heart?” the question came suddenly as Corvo was on the roof again.

                “What?” Corvo shifted to sit up as the Outsider joined his side.

                “You said you’re sure that I was once human, do you think I have a heart?”

                Corvo paused. He had never thought about it before.

                “Yeah,” he started, looking into those beautiful black eyes. “I think so.”

                Corvo wasn’t sure what the Outsider was thinking or feeling, but his instinct was to hold him. He wasn’t sure why, and he wasn’t sure how, but his hand came up and gently cupped the back of his neck, running his thumb along the bare skin. The Outsider sat there, tense for a second when the hand touched him and then relaxed into the gesture.

                “You are human,” Corvo started. “So—“

                “I am no longer,” Outsider finished.

                They sat there staring at the stars with Corvo’s hand on the back of Outsider’s neck for some time before the Outsider himself leaned against Corvo’s shoulder and melted away.

\---

                Corvo couldn’t find himself to find the fourth location. He was tired, he was ill-motivated. He felt like he never had enough to time grieve. He woke up every day for a week and didn’t leave the bed until his stomach started to growl a few hours later. He didn’t cook, he left dishes in the sink. He would sit on the couch and stare into nothing. His fingers would run over the small hair elastic around his wrist as he felt empty.

                He wasn’t sure how he should feel. What would Jessamine think of all of this? Would he have known about the Outsider if they were still up north? He didn’t stop the tears from running down his face as he buried his head in his pillow for the tenth time that night.

                He felt wrong for not grieving. He felt wrong for finding some form of confide in the Outsider. Did Emily grieve? Was she better about this than he? He had to take a moment wipe the tears from his face, spotting they had darkened parts of the pillow. He dropped his head back down and curled himself up.

                He just wanted… He just wanted to feel her again. Feel her wrap her arms around his waist and snuggle into his back humming and old folk tune. He wanted to see that ugly cackle (he thought it was adorable) where her nose scrunched up and her brows furrowed and showed every wrinkle on her forehead as she guffawed out with an unimaginable sound. A smile was brought to his lips with the tears still strolling down his cheeks.

                He missed her. He missed his Jessamine.

                _Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes._

                “Dad?” the soft words of Emily were slightly muffled from behind the door.

                Corvo stood up and wiped his face and flipped his pillow over before going to the door and opening it up. There stood tiny Emily in her large comforter surrounding her shoulders and draping to the floor. She looked concerned, sad, upset. She looked so much like Jessamine, and that only made his heart hurt more.

                Corvo felt they both had an understanding of what the other was thinking: we miss her.

                “I want hot chocolate,” Emily broke the silence with a topic that wouldn’t make them tear up again. “It’s too high up and I’m not leaving my cape.”

                Corvo let out a soft laugh, rubbing his forehead and nodding. When they went downstairs he noticed Emily had taken care of the dishes… again. Now he felt guilty. He still blamed himself, that he couldn’t do anything to stop her from dying. _The shout that the sniper was there came too late._ And now he was making Emily do more work that she needed to be doing.

                The sound of the kettle was enough for him to realize where he was again. The mug warming his hands as he stared blankly to the wall, spotting Emily still all bundled up on the couch with only her face and hands poking out of her blanket cave.

                He hadn’t noticed how cold his drink had gotten when he brought it to his lips. He placed it on the counter. He wouldn’t bother reheating it.

                _Clunk._

                “Who’s the Outsider?”

                Corvo’s chest tightened. His mind started to reel again and he felt himself grow weak. He knew he couldn’t play it off as he didn’t know. Emily was smarted than that. He knew she would have figured it out at some point. But why this night, not when he was feeling like this. Not when he couldn’t figure out if Jessamine would be upset at him for getting too close to Outsider.

                He felt his heart break again.

                “I…” Corvo swallowed his words as he covered his eyes.

                “He’s some kind of… God I think,” he tried again.

                “Is he the one you’ve been talking to almost every night?” So she had been hearing some of their conversations.

                “Yeah.”

                “You seem happy again when you talk to him.”

                “…I am sometimes.”

                “I think Mum might have been weirded out by him. But she might like his weird charm.”

                His chest hurt again. His eyes welled up with tears and he couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping as he shifted down to the floor. He covered his face with his hands as he felt a warm blanket surround him and tiny arms hold his head.

                There came a soft apology from Emily that Corvo shook off as he struggled to speak through his sore throat and rigid breathing. He sat sobbing, for how long he didn’t know, until Emily carefully helped him to his feet and brought him back to his room so he could fall asleep on his bed and tear soaked pillow.

                Corvo woke feeling lightheaded and hungover from the stress of the previous night.

\--

                The fourth location required a trip. An honestly to god trip to the ocean. Obviously, Corvo made the plans, got a hotel room for a couple nights, and he and Emily packed their bags and took the six hour drive to the beach.

                Even if this location didn’t have anything that they needed, it got them away. It got them away from Greg, Toni, Katrina, The Outsider, and being in that barn for far too long. Corvo had made sure he told the Outsider where he was going, in hopes that he would find something that might help them. Corvo was gifted with a soft touch to his cheek from a cold hand, and a warm nuzzle of their foreheads touching. It was so intimate. It was so sensual. Corvo wasn’t sure how to handle it. But it was on his mind the entire drive there even with the loud music in his ears and warm air hitting his face.

                The ride to the beach was long, and Emily was running out of songs she could jam out too and out of comfortable positions to nap in. Though when Corvo finally managed to find the parking garage of the hotel, Emily was all too quick to jump out and grab their bags and bounce excitedly while she waited for Corvo.

                The check-in was fine, the beds were comfortable, the view was nice with a never-ending horizon, and the wind was warm and tasted of salt. Corvo remembered his first fall into the Void. It felt like here, it felt like the ocean.

                This had to have been it. There was no way that the Void would feel like the ocean if this wasn’t it.

                The two of them walked around the little shops for the first night and got food to bring back to the hotel so they could eat it and watch one of Emily’s favourite movies.

                Before the crack of dawn Corvo left a few bills behind and note saying Emily could get room service if he wasn’t back from his run.

                It was both a run and not a run. He was on the lookout. The cold salty air helped to wake him up as he ran along the water’s edge. It was ebbing away, which meant that his exploration would be easier. He kept an ear out, only using his gift of sight when no one was around to see him. The world had changed since Katrina’s ancestors, and he wasn’t sure what he would find, or where it would be. He half expected it to be underwater.

                With nothing to find, he went back to the hotel to find Emily with a large plate of waffles doused in strawberry syrup half eaten. She opened up one of the other containers to show off Corvo an omelet she got for him. They ate in silence before getting ready to go into the water

                The day was hot, the sun blaring and Emily laughed at her bright red face by the end of the day. She knew it would hurt, but she was laughing still.

                The next morning Corvo went the other way, finding something. He could hear a hum of a rune nearby. He looked and saw, amongst the craggles of the rocky pathway to the lighthouse, a lever. This was it. He finally found something. Holding his breath, he reached under the water to where it was and tugged. It was a force he struggled with, but he managed. Right next to him opened up. A rock shifted out of the way and he crawled underneath.

                Now he was starting to feel like Indiana Jones.

                Once inside, the water splashed by his feet. A time limit. He wouldn’t be able to stay for long. High tide would surely drown him in here. And no amount of powers would get him out. Pulling his phone out from its safety case, he turned his flashlight on.

                There it was.

                The bones of a whale.

                Corvo’s mouth dropped in awe and was shocked of how well preserved they were with only a few bits of seaweed and barnacles where the water would touch it during high tide. The three large jawbones intimidated anyone who would have found this place, turning them back to think it was a monster. He placed his marked hand on the tip of one, his mark pulsing with heat.

                He was here. This was it.

                Corvo moved around the cavern, taking in the sight of the beast long forgotten to time. He quickly snapped some photos, the flash casting ominous shadows around the cavern sending shivers down Corvo’s back. When he looked through the photos, he spotted something in the center of the ribs.

                He flashed his light there and found a slab of stone. Near perfect in its shape with a high headboard resting behind it. An altar. The hum got louder as he moved his way carefully into the ribcage and towards the slab of stone. It too had seaweed and barnacles underneath it, facing the age of time and salt water. He ran his hand along it and his mark sang in gold and smoke.

                “This is where you died,” he said aloud to no one. “Where you were sacrificed. In the belly of the whale. From stone, and blood, and you became the Void.”

                The hum grew. He looked around, using his vision to find where the rune was. Perhaps he could get the Outsider here. It was buried beneath him, stuck under rocks. It sang with a hurt tune when he pulled it out. It was so old, there was a large crack down the center of it, it felt broken.

                “I…” The Outsider.

                Corvo looked up and flashed the light towards him, seeing him gently touching one of the ribcages. He looked more broken than the rune in his hand. There was no glow about him, no ethereal light. He seemed to flicker, like a bad connection.

                “I remem—this pl.. ce,” he crackled. A bad connection. He was far from the ranch. Corvo thought he’d be able to reach further than this. He thought he could reach the other ends of the earth. But here… could it be because this is where the ritual was?

                “S.. ong ago—“ Corvo could barely understand him. The Outsider walked to the alter and laid himself down, his hands above his head. Like they were bound. He flickered the most there.

                “Blo..d and sto—“ he tried.

                “And you became the Void,” Corvo finished, wanting the being to not strain himself.

                “Co…vo,” he tried. His eyes were wide and sad, and oh so, so, so broken. The Outsider sat up, pressing the tips of his fingers to his neck before the connection broke and his flickered away into nothing. This place was too much for him.

_The tide_.

                The words came to him like a brick wall. Corvo rushed in taking as many photos as he could before he had to hold his breath and get out of the cavern. He grabbed the lever to close the cavern and broke the surface to take a large gulp of air in. The water smacked his face again as he stumbled to get up and out of the water.

                He picked up a bag of white rice on the way back to the hotel to sit his phone into. Luckily no damage was done.

                Corvo enjoyed the rest of his weekend with Emily at the beach and going to all the little shops before the inevitable drive back to the barn. The ride was mostly filled with Emily peeling off her sunburn (which Corvo told her to stop doing), and then trying to peel the sunburn off her nose (which Corvo smacked her hand away from doing).

                The bed was well welcomed at the return of the trip and Corvo, for the first time, slept soundlessly.

 

\--

 

                Corvo wasn’t sure who he should bring the photos to first. Outsider was there, yes, but only partially. And Corvo wasn’t sure how much the being actually saw. Katrina had been trying to fill in the blanks this whole time, something Corvo was asked to do.

                He brought them to Katrina.

                She had him print them out so she could take notes, search through them under a magnifying glass, complain about the quality of some, and work herself into the night.

                Corvo waited on the rooftop again.

                “Do you feel any different?” Corvo asked, seeing the Outsider’s legs next to him before the being chose to sit down once more.

                “I feel…” The Outsider tried. He was troubled by his own thoughts. Confused on how he should go about wording them out.

                “Take your time,” Corvo interrupted.

                “My time could be 100 years, dear Corvo,” that monotone had returned. “You would be long gone and could never hear it.”

                Corvo gave a soft chuckle at the rather grim, what he assumed, joke.

                “The first time I arrived in the Void,” he was figuring out how to say it. “I came in screaming, I knew nothing of words, of feelings, of anything. I was reborn, tears in my eyes and only my own shouts to accompany me. I never remembered anything prior, anything before me screaming, anything before the endless sea of clouds and colours.”

                Corvo sat up straight a bit more, recalling his first summons into the Void where he felt like he was drowning, but _couldn’t_ scream. Like the ocean.

                “For thousands of years I would show up shrines people built in my honor. I’ve watched thousands, hundreds of thousands, die honoring me, and die _because_ they honored me. And then to see where it all began and still not know… Flames. Fire in the Void. A fire in me. It’s so close, so far.”

                “What happened there though?”

                “The Void was both a part of that place and not, I’m surprised it didn’t hurt me.”

                “Are you alright?”

                “I will be. You are here are you not?”

                Corvo’s chest tightened, his stomach flipped. He remembered Jessamine with a similar smile on her face, _tilting her head as she walked next to Corvo._

_“I’ll be safe. You’re here with me,” her smile was intoxicating, full of hope and ambition. Corvo didn’t stop himself from smiling back, rather goofy and love-struck compared to hers._

                _The bullet collided with her chest with a sharp sound._

                “You still think about her?”

                The Outsider’s voice brought Corvo out of his trance. He didn’t have to answer Outsider to know what he was thinking. The two sat, staring at each other. Deep brown into pitch black, the stars scattering across his cheeks. With his odd charm, and odd ways, Corvo felt close to the Outsider. He felt the pull towards him. Their foreheads touched, their noses tapped. Corvo nuzzled their faces closer and held the beings cheeks. His eyes were half lidded, those stars showing more across his skin.

                “No, Corvo.”

                He should have known. He should have guessed getting to close would lead to consequences. He closed his eyes to stop anymore tears to come out. A kiss was pressed to his forehead.

                “Wh—“

                He looked up to see the Outsider smile and tilt his head.

                “I won’t make you do this when you’re still hurt.”

                “So you..?”

                “I do, yes. But not now. Not when your heart is still repairing.”

                He pressed the palm of his hand to Corvo’s cheek, who tilted his head to kiss at the base of the pale thumb.

                “I have time, dear Corvo, to wait.”

                His skin faded. Short whisps of fog lifted off his skin, reaching out. The Outsider began to fade, taking his time to stay close to Corvo. The stars on his cheeks drifted away and lifted to the sky like fireflies, flickering out when they got too high. The whisps of smoke pressed to Corvo’s cheek, cupping them tenderly and fading away.

                Corvo felt… at ease. There was something so calming about that slink of fog that drifted down back to the Void. And then there was something giddy in his chest. Corvo never thought he would feel anything like that again; chest tight and warm, a soft blush across his cheeks.

                He slept soundlessly again until the break of dawn.


	5. To Catch Smoke

                Corvo knew he had the stupid-love struck grin on his face when he went to help Toni and Greg in the field. He knew he was glowing more, smiling more. Katrina thought it was the final shift in mood- the first step into Corvo’s acceptance, and away from grief. Corvo wasn’t sure if he should entirely believe that, but maybe some of it was true. Greg was just glad to see Corvo working a little bit harder, a pep in his step.

                Toni, however, didn’t.

                It wasn’t until around midday when the clouds started to rumble in. Not a tornado, Katrina praised. Just a supercell. But nonetheless, they pulled back inside as quickly as they could as the clouds were moving fast. Emily and Corvo joined everyone else in the main house where Katrina had already started to brew some coffee and whip together some hot chocolate.

                “A pastime,” she said. “Watching the rain come in fast and leave just as quickly.”

                Corvo watched the horizon, holding his coffee between his hands, the warmth of it going into his bones. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking to see if the Outsider would show up. The clouds seemed to swell like the ocean, maybe he enjoyed this sort of thing. He would have to ask next time they spoke.

                He took a sip and sat on the little bay window as the boys and Emily ran upstairs to check the storm out from the big windows in Katrina and Greg’s room. Katrina and Greg soon joining them.

                The cell was large, towering over the sky and swallowing it whole. The thick, dark clouds made the whole world seem like the sun would never shine again. Flashes of light could be seen within the cloud itself, a dance of life and death as the rain and hail began to clink and patter against the house and windows. And soon enough, the rain and hail came down faster, leaving streak marks of constant running water against the glass, dripping down and causing the view to become more and more distorted to the eye.

                “I know, Corvo,” came Toni’s deep and accusing tone.

                “Hm?” a weak response. It caught him off guard, and he had gotten soft since moving down here. He took a sip of his coffee, attempting to mask any expression he may have had.

                “I know you’ve been meeting him in secrecy,” Toni continued. “The Outsider.”

                Corvo turned to face Toni. He was leaning against the wall, face turned towards the window closest to him. The grey sky turned his white skin ashen, and caused his eyes to go dark. It only illuminated into something bright and sickly when a quick flash of lightening happened outside, causing the group upstairs to let out a shout of excitement.

                Corvo opened his mouth, thinking he could force himself out of this situation. But he knew when he was trapped. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of this with a smile and a lie.

                “How long.” It wasn’t a question, Corvo wouldn’t give him the pleasure.

                Toni looked and stared directly at Corvo, brow furrowed down and lips in a tight, thin line. He felt his breath catch in his throat when he returned the glare to Toni.

                “Long enough to know—“

                Corvo’s heart stopped.

                “—that you two are much closer than anyone expected.”

                Corvo could feel his stomach in his throat, wanting to come out. How much had Toni seen? What conversations did he overhear? _How_ did he overhear? Corvo knew he wouldn’t be able to say ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ without being called out. Toni was convinced, and Toni was threatening.

                “What makes you think we’re close?” Corvo tried to push back. “I’ve only talked with him to help him.”

                “He doesn’t make the stars, but wishes he does,” Toni began to recall conversations that were private (or Corvo thought they were) between the two. “You think he has a heart, and that he can be human again, he won’t _kiss you because you’re still thinking about your wife_. Corvo, I know what’s been happening.”

                Corvo was sure he lost some colour in his face, he could feel his fingers and toes go cold. Toni had been listening. He had been listening to every single conversation that he and the Outsider had.

                “Bring him to us,” Toni offered.

                “No,” Corvo was quick to respond, giving no moment between the offer and his answer. “I can’t do that.”

                “You can’t? Or you _won’t_?”

                Corvo’s mouth went dry as he stood up and stood his ground, his body seeming larger as he stared over at Toni.

                “Both.”

                “He’ll lose interest in you, just like all the others. And what would Jessamine think of you _moving on so quickly_?”

                The words struck hard. Had Corvo moved on so quickly? He knew he had thought about it before, when was there time to grieve, how long should he grieve. He had been here for about half a year, maybe longer, he had lost track of time with just seeking the Outsider and talking to him. He had started to feel something with the being, and the being did so too. But—

                Would he really leave him? After all this?

                When Corvo looked up, Toni was already over at the sink, washing his mug out. He was done with the conversation, and the storm was just finishing its pass. Emily came rushing down the stairs with a large grin on her face.

                “Dad! Holy _crap_!” she was rather amped up. “That was so cool! We never got storms like that up north! Does this mean I’ll get to see a tornado too?”

                “Ah, Emily,” Katrina brought herself into the conversation. “We usually go to the basement when there’s a tornado, we have a small safe shelter down there until it passes.”

                “Aaaauuugghh,” Emily seemed disappointed.

                The rest of the day went by, Corvo sitting on top of Seashell and staring out as Toni’s words kept coming back. He didn’t like it, he knew that it was manipulation, he was trying not to let the manipulation get to him. But he was a soft lover, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the Outsider’s safety. If this was a trap, Corvo knew he was falling into it.

                He just had to figure out how to tell the Outsider. He knew it might lead to consequences that he wasn’t happy or excited for. Outsider might leave him, maybe it was best to cut off any emotional ties. His heart hurt at the idea of leaving the Outsider. They had gotten so close, he knew it would never be the same as his love for Jessamine, but he enjoyed it still.

                Corvo waited outside of the barn as he watched the sun fall behind the horizon. It was bright, orange, and he could see the lines of heat distorting it. Night time finally setting in as the stars peeked out and flickered gently over the land.

                When Corvo looked towards them, he wished they could fall down and illuminate the Outsider’s face, just as the small stars he created did. It would be genuine, it would be a wonderful sight to see.

                “Hey Dad?” Emily’s face popped out from the window. “Think I could meet him this time?”

                “Not… not tonight Em,” Corvo turned towards her with a sad smile. “I have something I need to talk to him about, privately.”            

                “Next time?” Corvo’s chest hurt. Would there be a next time?

                “Maybe.”

                That seemed to warrant a smile and her closing the window back up. He could hear her footsteps going back to her room and closing the door.

                _He’ll lose interest in you, just like all the others._

                That couldn’t be true. Outsider talked about the others he marked, about Delilah, about Vera, about Daud, and the man who faked being marked. He talked about them with a sour bite on his tongue, and sense of bitterness in their morals.

                Then it happened. What Corvo didn’t want; Outsider began to materialize out in the field. This was meant to be on the rooftop, where only they could talk. But now, Greg, Toni, and Katrina would be able to see. This is not what he had hoped for.

                “Outsider!” he called out, knowing he was loud, knowing where this might go. He blinked across the gap, taking a deep breath when his feet hit the black pool of water. Just like the first night. The smoke became dense again, forming that youthful and ancient being. The small, glowing orbs of stardust danced around him. His body lowered, and his toes tapped the surface of the water, causing a small ripple to occur.

                Corvo looked up to the floating being, words getting caught in his throat. The Outsider, with stars across his cheeks, the galaxies in his eyes, gave him a warm and unspeakably sad smile. His pale hand reached out and gently cupped Corvo’s jaw. His lip quivered, did Outsider know what was going to happen? He knew so much, maybe he knew this would happen when Corvo first showed up.

                “Toni he’s—“

                “I know,” Outsider cut him off.

                “And you’re just going to let it happen?” Corvo’s voice cracked a bit.

                Before the Outsider got a chance to speak, his mouth opening with the sad smile twisting the corners of his lips up, there came a sudden shock. Not on Corvo, but on the Outsider. A projectile, no bigger than a golf ball came flying at the Outsider, whizzing next to Corvo’s ears. The moment it collided with the Outsider’s chest, a large, bright, blue spark exploded crackling out and reaching for the ground.

                _The bullet collided with her chest with a sharp sound_.

                The Outsider’s scream was anguish, causing him to curl up and fall to the ground, his hands and knees breaking the water’s surface and pushing out around him like he created a small protective force field that wouldn’t let him stay in the water.

                _The shout that the sniper was there came too late as Corvo tried to get in front of Jessamine. He didn’t get to her fast enough, no matter how quickly he moved, no matter his reaction time. The bullet collided with her chest with a sharp sound, the blood splattering out and her body falling to the ground. The gasp that escaped her mouth was the only thing Corvo could hear as he kneeled by her side and lifted her up, one hand cupping her face. Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes._

                Corvo let out a shout as he kneeled down, not sure how to try and get him out. The blue energy looked like controlled lightning. Corvo had never seen anything like it before. But it came from somewhere.

                “I didn’t—Outsider, I wasn’t—“

                “I know,” came the broken and distorted voice, crackling just like the cage of blue that kept him bolted to the ground.

                He violently turned around, keeping himself in front of the Outsider, body blocking anything that might come his way. There from the hill that the house was built, stood Toni. Corvo knew he fell into the trap, he just hoped that he would have gotten to the Outsider in time. He was wrong.

                “Move aside Corvo!” came the shout as Toni made his way towards the two. From a sheath attached to his belt he pulled a long glass blade. It was deep in colour, purple and blues, the edge looked like shimmering diamond. Corvo could see something etched into the glass blade, but couldn’t read it, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to understand it either.

                “I’m not letting you!” Corvo bit back, the mark on his hand beginning to burn brightly gold with flecks of black smoke and those same small stars coming off of it.

                “He was a mistake! I need to right the wrongs that brought him here!” Toni’s voice had gone cold, angry. When he got to Corvo, the tip of that glass blade moved to point at Corvo’s neck.

                “Move, or I kill you too.”

                Corvo stood his ground, bringing his hand up, pressing his mark to the blade. It seared the back of his palm, causing him to pull back and let out a shout. He quickly regained himself and grabbed the base of the blade to spin and push Toni around. He fought against it and kicked out towards Corvo’s shin, causing Corvo to falter a bit, the blade now pressed to Corvo’s throat. He hand still clung to the hilt, using his strength to make sure that Toni couldn’t push any further down.

                “He’s done nothing wrong!” Corvo shouted, keeping his eyes on Toni. He need to figure a way out of this and get the Outsider back to the Void.

                “He’s done _everything_ wrong! _We’ve_ done everything wrong!” Toni snarled back, pushing the blade close to Corvo’s neck. His eyes were wide and wild with rage and vengeance. He was bent on killing a god.

                The blade felt cold against Corvo’s neck, the shimmering edge daring to try and press further to spill his blood.

                Corvo looked to Toni’s waist, seeing another of those projectiles, and a small control. He could turn it off. In a harsh push, Corvo reached out for the small control, grabbing it and pushing himself away.

His first mistake was pulling away and getting himself out from blocking the Outsider.

His second was turning off the contraption that kept the Outsider down.

His third was not getting back fast enough.

_He didn’t get to her fast enough._

He could see the burn marks that the blue energy had left behind, the dark reds and blacks a stark contrast to the porcelain skin the Outsider had. Toni grabbed the weak and mostly limp Outsider by the back of his head, gripping onto his hair and yanking it back from the force.

“ _No!_ ” Corvo cried out, pushing himself to try and get towards them. Outsider gave one final look to Corvo, his eyes sad, the galaxies and stars gone dull.

_He didn’t get back to her fast enough_.

The diamond edged blade sliced across the Outsider’s neck. Corvo was sure his scream was drowned out by the Outsider’s. Black smoke rose from the cut across his neck, the Void escaping from his body as the stars and galaxies left him.

_The bullet collided with her chest_.

Deep black cracks and veins began to grow from the cut, overtaking his face and breaking through his skin, smoke and stars beginning to escape from there. Corvo pushed himself from the ground and rushed to in front of the Outsider, kneeling there as he cupped his cheeks.

He was still screaming, his skin felt like fire as it cracked and broke off of him to the ground. The stars illuminated what little there was of porcelain skin, which turned ashen gray and then to black, and broke off to fall to the ground like firewood.

There was nothing Corvo could do.

_Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes_.

The screams finally died out as the smoke and ash fell to the ground, the burnt remains of the Outsider crumbling in Corvo’s hands. They left no residue behind as he ran his thumb over it. The world had gone silent after Outsider broke. His screams echoed in the distance until there was nothing left but the wind.

_Corvo could only hold her as he watched the light fade from her eyes._

“He shouldn’t have existed in the first place,” came Toni’s voice, breaking the silence. Corvo clenched his fists as he reached up and wrung his hands around Toni’s neck, pushing him to the ground. They landed where the Outsider fell, the ashes created a small puff and burning Corvo’s eyes. His fingers gripped tighter as he watched Toni struggle for breath.

He never got the chance to do this to Jessamine’s killer, but he could do this now. He was sure he heard a shout from the distance. He didn’t want to stop, he wanted Toni to die slow and painfully. He took one hand away to rear back and land a hard punch to Toni’s face. Another. Another. Another. Another. He went back to choking him.

“Corvo stop! Stop it!” It was Katrina, yanking him away from Toni’s body. She got his arms off of him, but Corvo still threw one final hit, landing his heel into his nose, hearing that satisfying _crack_.

“He killed him! He _killed_ him!” Corvo cried out, Greg helping Toni up. Katrina wasn’t fast enough to keep Corvo off of Toni again, throwing a harsh hit to his ribs. Toni coughed up a mouthful of blood as Corvo landed another hit. He stepped back as Toni felt to his knees, one hand stabilizing himself and the other over his ribs.

Corvo turned and picked the glass blade up from the ground. It still had the black marks from the Outsider’s throat.

“I thought you were researchers!” Corvo cried, face scrunched in rage. “Not killers!”

Katrina stared down at the blade, taking it from Corvo’s hand, her own shaking.

“O-Oh my god…. Toni you…” she swallowed. “Where have you been hiding this? How long were you planning this?!”

Toni looked up with a blood-filled toothy grin. Red poured across his lips from his nose and his mouth.

“My family was wrong, my ancestors were wrong,” Toni started. “They realized their mistake after they created him, sacrificed him. We waited patiently for the perfect moment to destroy him. And you Corvo… you fell in love. All I had to do was have you draw him out, ha ha—“ he coughed up another mouthful of blood. “—so predictable.”

Corvo had enough. He had enough. He had enough. He grabbed the glass blade from Katrina’s hands. Before anyone could react, Corvo pushed the tip of the blade to Toni’s neck. The blade cut clean and smooth and flawlessly to the other end and out the back of his neck. He watched what little light there was left in Toni’s eyes disappear. That bloodied toothy grin stuck to his face, the last laugh. Corvo didn’t pull the blade out until that last laugh fell from his lips and his body went limp. Toni’s body fell and his blood mixed with the ashes of the Outsider.

The blade dropped from Corvo’s hand. He dropped back to his knees.

He watched another loved one die.

 

\--

 

                Corvo didn’t go to Toni’s burial. He knew what he did. He knew Greg and Katrina saw him differently now. He knew he wouldn’t be welcome there. So he took his car, and he drove to the closest fabric store. Three hour drive, he didn’t care. Corvo looked for the perfect colour, the perfect shade, the perfect texture. He found it and cringed at the price, but at this point he didn’t care. He bought three yards, said it was going to be for some themed curtains. They believed him.

                He next drove to a lumber yard, grabbing what he could find that would work and all the supplies he would need. A toy boat for my son. They believed him.

                Corvo drove home in silence. The radio didn’t play, his phone never went off, there were barely any cars on the road at a certain point. His heart was broken, and he was feeling emptier than when he originally showed up. Now with another loved one dead and blood on his hands, Corvo parked in front of the barn and brought the supplies upstairs.

                He built a shrine in his room. He blocked the door so Emily wouldn’t be able to barge in and he built a shrine in the name of the Outsider, and placed the runes in the small next of fabric where they didn’t sing and didn’t hum. He cut the palm of his marked hand which had dulled and become almost grey, onto the runes.

                The blood settled into the cracks of the whale bone, but nothing happened.

                Day after day, Corvo would lock himself in his room and drop more blood. He thought it might have worked. He thought it _would_ work. And it never did.

                The Outsider was gone.

                Jessamine was gone.

                Nothing would bring them back.

 

\--

 

                Corvo had lost track of time again as he filled in for Toni with working on the field. He had spoken with Greg and Katrina about everything, they forgave him and tried to console him. He knew nothing would work. He was moving down a path before, and now he was back to square one.

                He worked slower, he sat out on the roof every night until two in the morning waiting for a sign, he didn’t eat as much, he locked himself in his room more often. Emily tried to make sure Corvo still did things, making sure he was moving, she knew she wouldn’t win some days, but she tried nonetheless.

                Another six months passed, maybe seven, of this same routine.

                Corvo left the roof at two in the morning, landing on his feet softly.

                _You are the heart of a living thing_.

                Corvo stopped in his tracks, hand hovering over the doorknob to go back into the barn. That came from outside. With small hope in his eyes, Corvo rushed inside and grabbed his flashlight, running back out into the field.

                The air got thick and felt like he was swimming. The water became black around his feet. Black fog swirled around his ankles, tugging him down.

                “I’m ready,” his voice cracked.

                He was tugged below, and when he breathed it felt like water filled his lungs. It tasted of salt and iron. When he opened his eyes, the world around him bloomed into colour. Lilacs and purples dusted the sky, pinks peeking through. Small breathing stars were speckled through the soft pastel background. Corvo landed on his feet with a small tap.

                He looked around anxiously, trying to spot the floating deity. He moved through, blinking across the platforms and searching for any sign of the Outsider. He couldn’t have been summoned for no reason.

                And that’s when he saw it, black smoke and fog pulling at his ankles and leading him. His heart raced in his chest, pounding against his ribs.

                He watched in another sort of amazement as the fog brought itself together, swirling around and becoming denser. His eyes moved across features as the smoke took shape. A young man, youthful in appearance, but ancient in presence. His face and body were lean, a slender nose and jaw as he moved his head back. He slowly fell to the ground, feet hitting the floor and then his knees. Corvo rushed to his side and gently held him as the Outsider’s eyes fluttered open. There, Corvo could see speckles of stars and galaxies far beyond his reach.

                When their eyes met, they sat in silence for a moment, taking each other in. A pale, slender hand came up to gently cup Corvo’s cheek, a single tear running down it. That cold thumb, gently rubbed it away. Leaning down, Corvo pressed their foreheads together, holding him closer as he felt those lean arms wrap around him.

                There a came a small sigh from Corvo as he closed his eyes and closed the gap. The kiss was tender, chaste, everything Corvo dreamt of it being. The Outsider’s lips were cold and soft, and pressing back, with a smile. They stayed there, both leaning more to the kiss and molding their lips together before Corvo pulled away.

                He lifted a hand and felt the new scar across the Outsider’s neck, just below his previous one. It was larger, new, a full bump. It would fade with time.

                “I know why I am here,” Outsider started, breaking the silent moment.

                “Because some people thought sacrifice would be a good idea?”

                The Outsider gave a soft laugh, almost nonexistent and more like a chuckled breath than anything. He leaned up and pressed his lips to Corvo’s again.

                “I am here for you.”


End file.
